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ASUU Strike Update: Reps, NANS Write Jonathan Off

A member of the House of
Representatives from Ekiti
State, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, on
Thursday, described the
prolonged strike by the
Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU as failure of
the Peoples Democratic Party-
led government. He called on the National
Assembly to probe the N186bn
given to 15 companies under
Power Airlines Intervention
Fund. He also said that the
refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to remove the
Director General of Security and
Exchange Commission, Mrs.
Arunma Oteh, despite the
recommendation of the NASS,
was a gross violation of the SEC Act. He spoke in an interview with
journalists in Ado Ekiti on
Thursday night. Daramola, a member of the All
Progressives Congress, said
that the Federal Government
had failed to tackle the rot in
the education sector because
the children of members of the ruling party were not schooling
in Nigerian universities. He said, “The Federal
Government has been foot-
dragging in resolving the
present ASUU strike because
their children are not in any of
the Nigerian universities. This is a failure on the part of the
government.” The lawmaker representing
Ekiti North Federal
Constituency I said that the
massive corruption in the
country would wreck the
nation’s economy soon. Speaking on why the executive
viewed the resolutions of the
National Assembly with
disdain, the lawmaker said this
was so because the resolutions
did not carry the force of law. He said, “As at today, the NASS
is operating at sub-optimal
capacity. That accounted for
what is happening in SEC. The
probe into the activities of SEC
is not about Mrs. Arunma Oteh, it is about SEC as the regulator,
and what it has put in place to
restore the confidence of the
people to come back to the
capital market and invest. “We recommended that she
should be sacked because she
is not qualified. The law that
established SEC states that
whoever will be the DG should
have 15 years cognate experience and must be a
financial member. She is still
keeping her job because of
ego. The DG of BPE, Bola Onagoruwa
was sacked because Senate
said she was not qualified. So,
if the President loves Mrs. Oteh
that much, she can appoint her
as a Minister, as a way of respecting the law. She must
understand that President
Jonathan will leave, no matter
how long, but the law will
remain because individuals will
go but the law will remain.” Daramola also called on the
National Assembly to institute
a probe into the PAIF, an
initiative of the CBN and the
African Finance Corporation. He said, “There is a need to
investigate the N186bn given
to 15 companies under Power
Airlines Intervention Fund. This
is practically shoving the
nation’s money into the pockets of 15 people. “This same administration,
under President Goodluck
Jonathan, has given stimulus
packages to several kinds of
agencies, individuals and
companies of interest to them under the PAIF. One
organization received N668m
under the name, Odeingaga
Aviation Services. They gave
Caverton Helicopters, belonging
to an individual, over N600m. “This country is going aground
and it is already grounding. The
manifestations are on the
streets and faces of all
Nigerians. The day of reckoning
is coming.” NANS National Association of
Nigerian Students, NANS,
through a statement made
available and signed by the
National P.R.O. Comrade Victor
Olaogun, has passed a vote of no confidence on President
Goodluck Jonathan over what
they called his “ineptitude to
handle and resolve the ongoing
impasse between the Federal
Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU.” While berating the
lackadaisical attitude of the
Nigerian President towards the
development of the youth and
his insensitivity and
inattentiveness to the pains and demands of Nigerian
students and university
lecturers, the Association
called for instantaneous
declaration of state of
emergency on Nigeria’s education sector, saying “we
can no longer condone his
ineffectiveness, whereupon we
pass a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE
on him. “Also we pass VOTE OF NO
CONFIDENCE on the Minister for
Education, for not having the
interest of Nigerian students at
heart. We also condemn the
Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan
on Students and Youth Matters,
Comr. Jude Imagwe over his
lukewarm attitude to the
plights of the Nigerian
students. “As a former president of
NANS, (though factional) we
expect Comr. Jude Imagwe to
use his good office to press for
the demands of the students
and even protect the interest of undergraduates who at this
time are facing huge
challenges as a result of the
lingering strike action
embarked on by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities” However the Association
pleaded with ASUU to return to
the classes while deliberation
continues or drag FG to court.
“we urge ASUU to drag the
Federal Government to court since nobody is above the law.
We call for immediate
allocation of Special
Intervention Fund to Primary,
Secondary, and Tertiary
education in Nigeria. We remained indifferent on ASUU
strike because we thought the
two parties could use
pragmatic approaches to settle
their rift.